HOUSE ADDS EXCEPTIONS TO ABORTION BILL – The House GOP bill banning most abortions after 20 weeks nationwide now includes an exception for cases of rape and incest after remarks from the bill’s author caused an uproar last week. And the author, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), will take a step back when the bill hits the House floor this week. Instead, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) will manage the floor debate. Franks said his remarks were taken out of context, but Democrats almost immediately connected them to former Rep. Todd Akin’s controversial “legitimate rape” remarks last summer. The POLITICO story: http://politi.co/12PgHTI

Story Continued Below

--The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet on the bill, H.R. 1797, at 5 p.m. today.

EVANGELICALS WANT GOP TO HIGHLIGHT ABORTION — The fight over the Franks bill came as social conservatives in town for the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference said the abortion issue is key to GOP success in 2014 and beyond. “This is a time for the pro-life movement like we have not had in decades,” said former Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), now with the Susan B. Anthony List. The POLITICO story: http://politi.co/13NR4xH

Good Monday morning and welcome to PULSE, where we’re curious to see how Organizing for Action will make its sale pitch for the president’s health care law this week. ICYMI, the advocacy group that grew out of the Obama campaign is going up with its first ads in support of Obamacare ( http://politi.co/10ffEuA).

“What I want PULSE got and it might be hard to handle”

AETNA DROPPING INDIVIDUAL COVERAGE IN CALIFORNIA — The national health insurer is pulling out of California’s individual market at the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal and others reported this week. Aetna has about 49,000 policyholders in California’s individual market, making up a small portion of the insurer’s business. “Insurance-industry experts say similar moves by other carriers in other states may emerge in coming months, as companies with limited market share decide to avoid the uncertainty tied to the law's changes,” the WSJ writes. But the health law’s implementation in California is going to get extra attention, since the White House and the law’s supporters have been eager to highlight the state as an ACA success story. Their story: http://on.wsj.com/19BbJeE

WAPO: DON'T DELAY DME – The Washington Post issued a scathing editorial over the weekend, blasting the 220+ House members who have been demanding that CMS delay further implementation of the Medicare competitive bidding program. "Firms that benefit from the status quo — and they’re in congressional districts across the country — have fought reform every step of the way," the Post's editorial page wrote Saturday. “The letter to [CMS Administrator Marilyn] Tavenner reflects more such lobbying. Its core allegation is that some companies that won the contracts, which take effect on July 1, lack the requisite state business license.” The editorial also criticizes lawmakers for hypocrisy — Democrats for challenging the program now after voting for the ACA, and Republicans for resisting a market-based alternative to government price-setting. http://wapo.st/11J2JMw

--CMS DIGGING IN ITS HEELS — The editorial could come in handy for CMS as it makes clear to the Hill that it's not going to change course on DME. At a meeting on the Hill last week, which was open to Republicans and Democrats, CMS officials told staffers that the agency isn't going to stop the program, according to sources at the meeting.

** A message from PwC's Health Research Institute: Seven years ago, Massachusetts embarked on an ambitious journey to expand coverage to nearly every resident in the state. Through a mix of legislation, regulation and coalition building, the state has succeeded — and provided meaningful lessons for healthcare companies along the way. In a two-part series, PwC's Health Research Institute examines how Massachusetts health reform impacted employers, insurers, and healthcare providers — and what this may mean for the US healthcare industry under the Affordable Care Act. Learn more: http://www.pwc.com/us/massachusettshealthreform **

2014 SENATE DEMS NOT BACKING DOWN FROM ACA VOTE — The 2014 elections will give some Democratic senators their first appearance on the ballot since voting for Obamacare — and Democrats aren’t backing away from their health care votes. Mark Begich (Alaska), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Mary Landrieu (La.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) still say the health law was the right thing to do, and some are pursuing an aggressive strategy to promote the ACA, the Associated Press reports. That partly includes strong outreach efforts to inform constituents about the new coverage options and consumer benefits. The AP story: http://bit.ly/1bH1m5S

PROJECT TRIES TO STRENGTHEN MENTAL HEALTH CARE – A new project is trying to beef up mental health services by getting primary care physicians into the act. The project, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the GE Foundation and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, will have academics train primary care providers who lack the expertise to diagnose mental disorders. “They see this enormous difficulty, but they don’t have access to any psychiatrists, so they don’t know how to get that expertise,” said Dr. Sanjeev Arora, who’s heading the project at UNM. The initiative is focused in New Mexico but could eventually be launched nationwide. The Pro story: http://politico.pro/12LMapE

BREWER TO SIGN MEDICAID EXPANSION TODAY – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer will be joined by a coalition of lawmakers, business and health care leaders and others when she signs the Medicaid expansion bill at 11 a.m. local time today. As opponents of the expansion say they plan to make it an issue in 2014, Brewer recently pushed back against the expansion’s ties to Obamacare. “This business that this is Obamacare is a little bit interesting,” she told reporters after the Legislature approved the bill last week, according to the AP. "It is a very, very, very tiny portion of the Obama health care.” That’s a bit of a stretch, of course. The expansion nationwide was originally expected to account for about half of the 30 million newly insured under Obamacare. More of Brewer’s remarks from the AP: http://bit.ly/15apbiS

CHAT WITH PRO ABOUT HEALTH CARE – Mark your calendars for June 25 at 1:30 p.m., when @KyleDCheney and I (@JasonMillman) host a POLITICO Pro Health Care Chat on Twitter. We’ll be talking all things ACA, and you can join the conversation with #ProChat.

HIT REPEAL BILL REACHES MAGIC NUMBER – A House bill repealing the health law’s $100 billion fee on insurers has earned its 218th co-sponsor. “This largely symbolic yet important benchmark for repealing the health insurer fee shows the level of bipartisan support in Congress to do away with this misguided policy,” said Medicaid Health Plans of America’s interim executive director Joe Moser said in a statement. “Coupled with the recent poll that showed that a majority of Americans oppose the insurer fee, it will be near impossible to ignore the facts: this tax will profoundly affect consumers by way of increased health insurance premiums, and drain state Medicaid programs of important dollars that could be spent on improving health care for low-income Americans.”

WHAT WE’RE READING

Federal Medicare advisers said Congress should make payment cuts to hospitals for many services that doctors’ offices can provide at lower cost, the New York Times reports. http://nyti.ms/17a2x0U

Even though the ACA aims to reduce unnecessary treatments, leaders of some nonprofit hospitals are raking in bonuses based on volume instead of value, Kaiser Health News reports. http://bit.ly/19HeIST

The Washington Post sums up how Republicans have tried to use Obamacare to derail immigration reform. http://wapo.st/14bdMjL

With health care companies racing to comply with the ACA, it’s a good time to be a health care lawyer, the Wall Street Journal notes. http://on.wsj.com/11SqSDD

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said he’s still considering a ballot initiative or a special session to expand Medicaid, the Missoulian reports. http://bit.ly/14cdEkf

** PwC's Health Research Institute Regulatory Center is a group of seasoned professionals who analyze legislative and regulatory policy with an eye towards how public policy impacts the business of healthcare. Our weekly Insights report serves as a vital resource for executive decision makers who must navigate the changes that lie ahead. Register to receive our Weekly Insights, http://pwc.to/13XNKR0. **

Authors:

About The Author

Jason Millman is POLITICO Pro’s Deputy Health care reporter. He’s on his second tour of duty at POLITICO after a stint at the Washington Post’s Wonkblog and has covered health care since graduating from Boston University with a journalism degree in 2008.